House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Thursday that she will create a House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack after Senate Republicans blocked legislation to create a 9/11-style bipartisan commission last month.
The announcement comes with “great solemnity and sadness,” Pelosi told reporters. Investigators will have “as long as it takes.”
“Again, January 6 was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history,” she said. “It is imperative that we establish the truth of that day and ensure that an attack of that kind cannot happen [again] and that we root out the causes of it all.”
The speaker indicated on Tuesday she would make a decision on whether to form a committee this week.
While the independent Jan. 6 panel had support from Democrats and a vocal section of the United States Capitol Police, which was overrun by the mob of Trump supporters trying to breach the building, nearly all Republicans in the Senate chose to block its creation last month by using the filibuster. Instead of investigating the factors that led to the attack, along with why it took hours for law enforcement to respond to calls for backup, the GOP has largely sought to move past the historical event.
This week, the party also blocked a sweeping overhaul of U.S. voting law that would increase protections for voters across the country, amid assaults on voting rights from state-level Republicans.
Republicans’ actions have increased calls from the left to ax the filibuster, the rule that sets a 60-vote threshold for legislation to even make it to the floor for a debate. But in order to do so, Democrats would need the full support of their caucus, and moderates including Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) have steadfastly refused to get rid of the rule.
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